Top seed Oliver Crawford pulled out of Rwanda Open M25 week 1 after sustaining a back injury during Thursday’s Round of 16 match against Burundian Guy Orly Iradukunda at IPRC Kigali Ecology Tennis courts. Crawford, 24, had won the first set 7-6(4), prompting Iradukunda to start the second set stronger in a push to even the scores. However, as the match progressed, he appeared to struggle with back pain, which ultimately forced him to retire, allowing Iradukunda to advance to the quarterfinals. The Briton was among the front runners for Rwanda Open M25 Week 1. He is currently seeing a physiotherapist as he runs against the clock to be fit in time to compete in the second week of the tournament. ALSO READ: Rwanda Open M25: Muhire and Niyigena out, Benjamin Lock stunned Elsewhere, Frenchman Corentin Denolly edged Mexico’s Rodrigo Alujas in two tightly contested sets 7-6(5), 7-6(5) both of which ended in tiebreaker. Dutch player Max Houkes cruised to a straight-set victory over India’s Siddhant Banthia, 6-2, 6-0. The game took just 57 minutes, the shortest time spent on a round of 16 match in the tournament so far. In other matches, Florent Bax of France overcame Kumar Pranav (USA) in two sets 6-3, 6-3 while Italy’s Manuel Plunger triumphed over Egypt’s Mohamed Safwat 7-5, 6-4. Adil Kalyanpur of India came from a set down to defeat his compatriot Bharath Nishok Kumaran 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 as Venezuela’s Brandon Perez moved past Preston Brown (USA) with a solid 6-3, 6-4 win. In the longest match of the day, Karan Singh of India narrowly defeated Denis Constantin Spiridon in a three-set battle, 7-6(3), 6-7(3), 6-4. The game took 2 hours 47 minutes. Action resumes on Friday where Denolly will take on Perez at the center court which will also host the match between Iradukunda and Singh. Plunger will take on Kalyanpur in Court 1 while Bax will go up against Houkes in Court 2. Rwanda Open M25 continues through the week, with a prize pool of $25,000. The event, which is part of the ITF World Tennis Tour, will run for two weeks, with the first week set to conclude on September 29. The second week will start on September 30 and will run through October 6.
